Have another professional photographers dealt with this type of radio silence after sending a gallery?
I’ve been a hobbyist photographer for some years now. I just recently transitioned to starting a small business for event and portrait photography.
Since I was mostly doing street and lifestyle photography, I needed to build up my portfolio. I did a small event and a large event free of charge for a couple friends. Also, did a handful of portrait sessions free of charge for people.
I recently did an event for another friend. This was my first paying client. I did a 4-hour event for $225 (originally supposed to be 3 hours, but I let the extra hour slide). This was like a 75% discount based on my pricing packages (this is an expensive market). I definitely regretted this many hours into the editing process.
I finished the photos on Friday and uploaded them to my PixieSet gallery. I haven’t really heard anything back since aside from a thumb’s up emoji. It has me going crazy.
I sent a couple dozen preview photos shortly after the event. The family said they loved them. Those preview photos weren’t the best or the best either, plus they weren’t fully finished (needed to tweak white balance and correct color on a few).
My question to other photographers out there is, is this unusual? I’ve been on these threads long enough to know this happens, but I can’t help feeling like they’re disappointed. My friend also has a personality of being very short with texts, so the thumbs up isn’t unusual. I guess it’s just a stark difference between the reaction I got from the other two events I did.
I checked PixieSet. Nothing has been downloaded at all.
Is this unusual? I’m kind of feeling defeated right now, having spent so much time and effort on it. Stockholm syndrome is definitely kicking in too.
Note: the friend client messaged me the day before, asking if the photos were almost finished. I mention this because they were obviously waiting for them. Had I not got this text, I’d just assume maybe they were going to view them over the weekend.
TL;DR: I did my first paid event, which was for a friend. The couple dozen preview photos I sent (not fully completed and not the absolute best of the collection) were praised, but after delivering the full gallery, I’ve had radio silence for 4 days now. Feeling, probably irrationally, like they’re disappointed in the photos. Anyone else experience this?